'The blue-collar center from Clarence has endured a tumultuous season after helping the Hurricanes win a Stanley Cup last spring. He broke his right wrist while blocking a shot in Game Seven of the finals, but offseason surgery wasn't successful. He was involved in a fistfight with teammate Bret Hedican during practice drills.'

'"Basically, I said they didn't work. They didn't care about working," Ruff said. "We cheated our fans. We cheated everybody." Then his players responded in the final 40 minutes, as they have all season. Pominville scored 1 minute, 21 seconds into the second period, the first step toward turning a tightly contested game into a four-game sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champion and another dominant win this season.'

'Most Underrated Player: RW Jason Pominville – He quietly plays consistently well on a club filled with more recognizable offensive names. He ranks in the top five with 17 goals, 28 points, a plus-13 rating, one short-handed goal and three game-winning goals.'

‘”You have certain people in your life who help you through hard times,” Nolan says. “And certainly my family was there, but the support I had from the people of Buffalo was unbelievable. They were very special to help me get through it. So to go back and coach in that building, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”‘

‘”It’s always special playing against them and getting a little payback,” said winger Ales Kotalik, whose penalty-shot goal with 42 seconds remaining stamped an exclamation point on the victory. “You can almost see yourself playing in the Stanley Cup finals.”‘

‘”In my mind, that loss [in Game Seven] is still fresh,” said Ales Kotalik, who scored his 11th goal of the season with a penalty shot in the third period after being pulled down on a breakaway by Erik Cole. “You can’t forget being knocked out in Game Seven when you’re leading 2-1 after two periods. You can see yourself in the Stanley Cup Finals and you will never be able to forget.”‘